In my experience, most of the people who admonish strap users are themselves blessed with exceptional grip strength. They never seem to allow for differences in hand size, and/or differences in the ratios of finger length to palm length... even differences in palm breadth can affect grip strength.
Let me give you an example: I have no grip strength and am forced to use straps on heavy back exercises, deadlifts etc. However, my younger brother can crush an apple with one hand simply by closing his fingers around it. Using two hands he can shear an apple into two equally sized halves simply by twisting it. My youngest brother can't lift a 50 lb dumbbell, however he has exceptional hook grip strength... unable to do even one full pull-up, he can nevertheless hang from the pull-up bar for more than 40 mins before his grip tires to the extent that he has to drop.
Neither of my brothers has ever worked out consistently yet my weaker grip is the product of 16 years lifting... surely the differences in inherent grip strength are more to do anatomical/physiological differences than anything else. Afterall, the variation among hand shapes is much greater than the shape and size differences seen among say... elbow joints.
The Luke
